Truth, the re-write
by IfIShouldStay
Summary: broken after the 'death' of their son, James and Lily Potter move to the US. 14 years later their whole world falls apart when they learn that their son didn't die, so they set out on a journey to find out the truth about that night and to find their son.
1. Chapter 1

London, 1981

Ministry of magic

My life shall never be complete. My son was dead. My best friends as good as lost to me. And My Wife, oh my poor beautiful, was now broken beyond repair. This is what we have become, empty shells wandering the world in search of one we would never see again. Gone, Harry was gone.

And with him, so was I.

"James?" The Minister voice broke through my thoughts. I winced, his voice in the silence felt like a stab in my already pounding head. I glanced up from the spot on the floor I had been staring at to the wizard before me. The Minister, Augustus Brogen, stood dressed in blood red dress robes and a twisted part of me laughed at the irony, so much blood had been spilt tonight and here the man stood looking like he was dressed in it.I shook my head and tried to talk. I felt as if my voice was lost as well. Maybe it was the shock of it all.

"James, Do you understand what I'm telling you?" He asked as he looked at me down his long nose. suddenly I felt like I was back in school again and had been sent to Dumbledore's office.

"Y-yes sir." I said, my voice cracking as I finally forced the words.

"They will come looking for you. The death of your boy caused the death of their master" the Minister said. "For your safety you must return to hiding. Farther away the better. Go to America, be muggles. No one must know you both are alive, James, do you understand? No one. Not Dumbledore, None of your friends. No one."

I shook my head. it was all so much. just hours ago I was pretending to fly my son around the room and now I was being told that everyone needed to think we were dead to stay safe.

I glanced over at Lily. She sat in a chair by the wall; her legs pulled tight to her chest. Her face was blank. her green eyes, that had once been filled with joy and life, looked dull as she stared at the wall behind the Minister's desk. _She needs this _I thought _staying here might just kill her. She needs to get away_.

"Alright" I whispered. My eyes never leaving Lily's still figure across the room. "set it up"

14 years later

Indianapolis, Indiana

July 27, 1995

The years past by slowly, the first few being the worst. We missed Harry and we missed our lives before. Brogen set us up in a american city and helped us find a house and jobs. Slowly we settled into life but the absence of our son took its toll on our first year we worked because we had to; but barely talked at silence filled the house like a fog, weighing us down.

That christmas passed without either of us realizing we missed it and so did all the holidays that followed. Then Harry's 2nd birthday came.

~flashback~

a sound broke the silence of the house and woke me from my sleep. someone was crying in the house. I sat up and looked over to where Lily should have been to find her gone.

My head pounded as a hopped out of bed. My eyes met the calendar across the room. July 31st.

Harry's birthday.

"Oh Lily!" I whispered. quickly I ran from the room and followed the sound of Lily's sobs.

Lily was sitting on the couch, a box with the name 'Harry James' written across the side sitting at her feet, and in her hands was a small blue bear that I had bought for Harry at birth. She shook as the sobs racked her body.

"Lily?" Her head shot up and she stared at me in shock. then her face changed again as she started to cry once more.

"Our son is dead, James." She whispered. This was the first time she had openly talked about him "He's dead"

"I know, Love" I replied, I walked over to the couch and sat down next to her. Lily turned and buried her face in my shirt, her hand balling it in her fist, and let out a heart breaking sob. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. tears filled my eyes as Harry smiling face pop in my head. "I know. and I miss him so much. He was such a good boy."

Lily nodded into my chest. It felt good to talk about him again. For the past 8 months we had not spoke of him once. We had avoided his name as if it was the curse that killed him. Even now it seemed hard to speak it.

Lily backed up and looked me in the eyes. Green met Hazel as we stared at one another.

"I'm so sorry James!" she croaked "These past few months I felt as if I was dead too. and I- I really haven't been the best wife" I shook my head. she was grieving, I knew that, and so was I. and I knew what she meant. I felt like I was playing a part, like James Potter really had died and in his place was the empty shell of a man that most knew as Matthew Davis, But now….suddenly as I looked at Lily, and I mean really looked at her, for the first time in months I felt like me again. Here was my poor wife before me, with a tear stained face, and for the first time since Harry's death there was a small bit of her back in her eyes.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, love, I checked out as much as you did." I replied. "A part of me died that night with our son" again his name was like glue in my throat, stuck and it refused to pass my lips. "But it felt like all of me did. But I'm here now Lily, and I promise you that from now on I will be here for you. We will get through this, but we have to do it together" Lily's eyes filled with tears again. without a word she buried her face in my chest again.

The rest of the day was spent like this. With her in my arms and the box next to us on the couch. as each item was lifted from the box a little bit of Harry returned to our lives.

~end~

Every year since had been the same. Lily and I would look forward to our time with Harry all day and as soon as night fell upon us and the house was quiet we would make our way to the couch, Harry's box in hand and sit and remember him. Every year it got a little easier.

In year 5, Brandon Henry Potter was born. finally we felt like we had a reason to live again. This little guy needed us. Slowly I watched my wife come back to life. Her eyes filled with laughter once more. Brandon filled a void in our hearts. But the Harry shaped hole would always be there, no one could fill it.

Year 8 brought a daughter, Elizabeth Ann Potter. and slowly life felt normal again. we never returned to the magic world and did our best to teach the kids ourselves. But the community was something we felt like we could never return to. Sure we missed our friends and every part of me wished to write them and tell them why we left. but I had to remember that they thought we had died and a letter from James Potter would seem like a joke and would only hurt me more.

"MATT!" My wife's voice broke my thoughts. I glanced up from my desk to the door then back at the paper I had been grading before i had lost track of my thoughts. this would have to wait till later. slowly I got up and made my way to the kitchen where I knew Lily to be.

Lily stood at the stove, with 7 year old Elizabeth at her side and a pot of stew on the burner. she looked up at me as I walked in the room. The years had taken their toll on my wife, she looked worn but still had never looked more beautiful to me. She smiled at me and nudged Elizabeth with her elbow. Elizabeth looked up at me and grinned, her hazel eyes alight with joy, and ran to me, her red curls bouncing.

"Daddy! Mommy taught me to make stew!" She said, reaching her arms up for me to pick her up. at once I picked her up, her weight reminding me just how big she was getting.

"OH! Beth, I'm not gonna be able to pick you up anymore here soon, you are getting too big!" I said, grunting as to show my point. Elizabeth laughed as I sat her down then ran to the other room. Shaking my head I walked over to Lily and wrapped my arms around her from the back.

"Hello Mrs. Potter" I whispered in her ear. In front of the kids we called ourselves by our new names, Lily's Muggle name was Katherine, but to ourselves we had whispered talks of who we once were. Lily turned around and slid her arms around me as well.

"I've been thinking" she said. I cocked my head to the side and stared at her "I want to go home for Harry's birthday this year." I sighed, every year since Beth was born Lily had asked me this.

"Kate, you know we can't" I said. using her muggle names as i spoke louder. "We are in hiding! I will not have that mans crazy follows hurt my family" Lily pushed away from me and turned back to the stove.

"I'm not asking to go back for good. No one would even know we were there. I want to go back to the house, thats it" She turned around and faced me again. "I need to see it Matt. Its been 14 years since Harry died. I need to see where. I'm not asking to go to Diagon Alley, just to the house. Please Matt, I need this."

I leaned back against the counter and sighed again. She was right, I knew that. There was always I part of me that thought about what had happened to the house. But its was fear that had stopped me. Voldemort had killed my son and I would be damned if I let anyone hurt my family again.

"How about this" said Lily "We change how we look and only go for a day. I can call Karen and see if the kids can stay with them while we are gone. I'm sure Brandon wouldn't mind staying with Alex for the weekend." Her green eye bore into mine, silently begging me to agree.

"Fine" I said at last "If this is what you need then, alright. But only one day then its straight home." Lily's face broke out in a big smile and she pulled me into a tight hug.

A/N: Alright there is the first chapter. let me know what you think and if I should keep going! Thank you to all of you that have stuck with me.

Please ignore any grammar errors, its never been my strong point.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: ok here is Chapter 2! really hope you like it! please read and review! sorry it's short!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! If I did I wouldn't be posting here! lol All belongs to good ol' J.K.!

July 30, 1995

Over the next few days Lily spent most of her time getting everything ready for our trip. making portkeys and finding the right glamours. the night of the 29th she called Karen about the kids and Brandon was overjoyed about staying with his best friend, though a little upset that he had to drag his little sister along. The kids thought we were going to celebrate our anniversary at a hotel and were upset to not being going too. But after promising to take them somewhere before school started up they calmed down a bit.

"Dad!" 9 year old Brandon called as he came running into the room, his black hair in a tousled mess. "can I take my baseball stuff to Alex's house? His brother's gonna let me pitch!"

Brandon reminded me of myself at his age. I was always begging my dad to take my flying and to teach me to shoot a quaffle from a very young age. Brandon loved all things sports but we had yet to show him the joy of quidditch as there was no where to take him flying.

When Brandon was born he looked just like Harry had. At first it had been hard on us, it felt like it was Harry all over again. Then one day his blue eyes turned hazel and we realized that it wasn't right to think of Harry, we needed to think of Brandon as himself. and He was so different than his brother. Harry had always been a quiet baby, sleeping through the night and only crying when he was hungry. And it felt like Brandon never slept. the first 3 months of Brandon's life was spent walking the floors of our house bouncing a screaming Brandon trying to calm him down.

The older Brandon got the more like me he became. When he was 5 we got a letter from his teacher saying he was pulling little pranks on his classmates like putting fake spiders in desk. In 1st grade he got sent to the principal for putting ketchup up his nose and faking a nose bleed. I can only imagine what too boys would have been like.

Oh Harry….How I wished to see what he would have looked like as he got older, how he would have acted. would he have like having siblings? would he have played pranks with his brother as well?

"Do you have all your clothes packed? toothbrush?" I asked. Brandon rolled his eye.

"Yes, Dad, Mom already made check. When are we going? I can't wait to play Alex's new game!" Brandon bounce up and down as he talked. He was always moving.

Beth, on the other hand, was like her mother. she looked just like her and acted like her. 7 years only and was reading like a pro. she loved to learn new things and was always wanting to sneak into our magic books in our room.

"Soon, Bran, promise. now run along and see if Beth is ready, will you?" I told him. "I'll go ask your mom when she wants to go" Brandon nodded and ran from the room. I laughed, Brandon and Alex reminded me of my own best friends.

I looked across the room at a photo on my desk. frozen to look like a muggle picture was a picture of Remus, Sirius and I on our last day at Hogwarts. It was taken in front of the Great Hall doors by Lily. The three of us stood, Sirius in the middle with his arms thrown over me and Remus' shoulders. When the picture still moved you would see Sirius pull us to him and start to fake cry. He had wanted the picture because, as he said, 'it was our last time walking through these doors as students!' but I had it frozen where we all stood there smiling.

Shaking my head as to clear my thoughts, I headed to my bedroom to find Lily checking our bags and shrinking them.

"Brandon keeps bugging me about leaving" Lily turned her head to look at me and rolled her eyes as she put the last shrunk bag in her pocket.

"I've already told him three times that we are leaving a 3." She replied. I glanced to the clock on the night stands. it was 2:57. "He takes after you, you know, you both are so impatient"

"Hey! have you once heard _me_ ask when we are leaving?" I asked, acting offended. Lily crossed her arms and gave me her 'you want to go there?' look.

"thats only because you're worried about going" Lily replied. and I was. All I kept thinking of was getting caught by someone. What if someone saw through the spell and saw who we really were? What then? At least the kids were staying here where it was safe.

After the kids were dropped off we headed to our portkey point out in the middle of no where. Lily pulled out her wand and went about changing our looks. She changed both of our hair to blonde, explaining that any other color would still look like us, then changed the color of her eyes to blue. She pointed her wand at my eyes and I saw my glasses disappear, but could still feel them.

Lily pulled out a picture of Harry from her pocket and held it out to me. I looked up at her confused.

"Its the portkey, James" She clarified. I reached out and grabbed the picture, Harry's cake covered face stared up at me. it was the perfect picture for today. I felt the familiar pull behind my navel and then we were off.

We landed in the woods outside of Godric's Hollow. Lily had called ahead and booked us a room at a small Inn in town where would stay tonight. In the morning we would go to the house then straight home. I told Lily it was best we didn't stay very long.

As we walked to the Inn we talked about the village and how it had change the last 14 years. which really, wasn't much. I was like stepping back in time. before we went into hiding we use to spend our days walking around the lovely town and looking in all the shops. But those days were gone. Now we walked quickly to the Inn, as if we feared that someone would see us and know who we were.

Once we settled in to our room Lily un-shrunk our bags. She pulled a small box out of her pocket and un-shrunk it as well. It was Harry's box.

"Its didn't feel right" She said as she saw the frown on my brow. "Coming here, I just couldn't leave him home on his birthday." This was how she talked about him. as if the stuff in this box, a few stuffed animals, some picture and some of his baby clothes, was Harry himself. Her green eyes filled with tears. I sighed and pulled her over to me. She relaxed into my chest and wrapped her arms around me. I held her close and rested my chin on the top of her head.

As always, tomorrow would be a long day.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Happy Birthday My sweet boy

That night I dreamt of Harry. I dreamt that we were back in his old room sitting in the rocking chair. His little body laid against my chest as we rocked. It had felt so real that I could almost feel the warmth from his body, So real that my arms felt like someone had just picked him up when I woke. I sat up and looked around the room. Sun was creeping out from under the curtains across the room giving a warm glow to everything. Lily laid next to me still fast asleep. But I was happy she was, I wanted some time before she woke.

Swinging my legs over the side of the bed I sat up and ran my hands over my face then started to get dressed. Already I felt the sadness creeping in to my chest. it crept like the sun had under the curtains, slowly filling my head with thoughts of my oldest son.

I walked over to where Lily had sat Harry's box and left a note for Lily beside it. '_Going down stairs' _ it read _'come down when you're ready'. _I placed my hand on the box and smiled

"Happy Birthday, My sweet Boy" I whispered. I glanced back at Lily one last time before heading out of of room.

When I got down stairs I headed to the patio outside and sat at a table where I could still see the stairs so I would see Lily when she came down. The patio was on the front of the Inn so as I sat I watched people go about their morning. I sat and thought about what it would have been like raising the kids together in this town. I thought about taking the kids to the little restaurant that Lily and I had loved when first moved here, the same restaurant that we had gone to the night she found out she was pregnant to celebrate. I thought about talking Beth to the bookstore in town that Lily had always loved and had bought all those muggle parenting books from.I thought about taking them to the graveyard to see where my parents were buried. I glanced up at the stairs to see if Lily was coming yet. she was probably still sleeping, she hadn't slept well last night. Be then again neither did I. Standing up I decided to go see my parents while I waited. I wouldn't be gone that long and would hopefully be back before she woke up.

The walk to the graveyard wasn't as long as I remembered it to be. and finding my parents to no time at all. I sat down on the ground in front of their joint headstone.

Charles Potter and Dorea Potter

June 3, 1977

My parents had died my 7th year of Hogwarts. Lily had only met them once before their death.

"Hey Mum, Hey Dad" I whispered. I looked around to make sure no one was around then pulled out my wand and transfigured some grass into flowers. "sorry its been so long. I just wasn't ready to come back here yet" After a few minutes I stood up again and started walking around. I wondered if they had us "buried" here and decided to look and find out. as I looked around I saw a man standing a few rows up. He hadn't been there before so my guess was that he was a wizard. He stood with his back to me, his hands in the pockets of his tan pants, looking down at a headstone before him. I started walking to find our 'graves' and tried to act as normal as possible. as far as this man knew I was just a muggle visiting family. I walked up and down rows till I came to the one where the man stood. He had yet to move since I first saw him. I went about looking at the graves it search for ours, part of me hoping they buried Harry here after the other I walked past till I was standing right next to the man. I was shocked to find whose grave he was looking at. It was ours. I glanced around still hoping to see Harry's.

"Who are you looking for?" I jumped and looked back to the man, finally getting a good look at him. His sad blue eyes stared at me from a scar covered face, the man's sand blond hair falling slightly in his eyes.

"um..a friend of mine from school, his son was buried here." I stutter out. I couldn't believe my eyes. "Harry Potter? do you know where he is?"

"Harry? Harry Potter is not dead" Remus said "What are you talking about. Who are you?"

I froze. Harry was not dead? No, no no. We were told he died! I started backing away from Remus. my head was swimming, it couldn't be true. Then again, maybe this wasn't Remus? Maybe somehow the death eaters knew we were back? maybe this was a way to get us? I had to get out of here. I turned and took off running back to the Inn to get Lily. I heard 'Remus' yell after me but I just kept running. I would not let them hurt my family again.

When I got to the Inn and ran up the stairs as fast as I could and bursted into our room. The bed was empty and Lily was no where to be seen.

"Lily?!" I yelled after closing the door. What if they got to her first?

The bathroom door opened to my left and a towel clad Lily walked out. she looked at me confused as she fixed the towel around her

"What on earth?" Lily said. I stood there panting, bent over holding on to the door handle. I straightened up and pressed my ear to the door and listen to see if he had followed me. "James!" I spun around to Lily.

"Get dressed. Now. We have to go" I said, I walked across the room and started packing our stuff again and shrinking Harry's box and putting in my pocket.

"What? Why? we haven't gone to the house yet. James! what happened?" I stopped and turned to face her again.

"I went to see my parents graves while I was waiting and to see if they buried Harry out there too. and there was a Death Eater out there, Lily. A Death Eater dressed like Remus. I think they knew we were coming some how. and They had him standing there, looking at our graves, and waiting for us to show!" I said. I paused to breathe and waited for it to sink in with Lily.

"How do you know its a Death Eater, James, Maybe it was just Remus visiting Harry on his birthday!" She said as she started grabbing her clothes.

"I asked him where Harry was buried, Lily, and he told me that Harry was alive" Lily froze. the clothes in her hands fell to the floor and her eyes started filling with tears.

"Harry's alive?" she whispered. I shook my head.

"No, Love. Why would the Minister lie to us?" I said. "Now, please, I think he followed me. We have to go." Lily nodded and started getting dressed again. five minutes later we had everything ready to go and we headed down stairs. Lily grabbed my hand as we walked to the door and we tried to act like nothing was wrong. As we walked outside I quickly glanced around to see if the Death Eater had followed me or not but didn't see him so we started walking to our portkey point so we could go home. Lily glanced over her shoulder and back again really fast

"He is following us" She whispered.

"Just act normal. They won't attack us here." I replied "to many muggles"

"Like that's ever stopped them before!" She looked back again "sure looks like Remus. You don't think they hurt him do you?" God I hope not.

"I don't think so. walk a little faster"

Finally we reached out point. Lily pulled out another picture, this time of Beth and Brandon, and pulled out her wand to start it.

"WAIT!" a voice yelled. we both looked to see 'Remus' running our way. Lily started tapping the picture with her wand and just as he reached us I felt the pull and we were gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

We landed with a thud on the living room floor. Lily jumped up and ran a hand through her still blonde hair and turned to face me. My head pounded as I sat there on the floor. What was I thinking? why did I agree to go back there? and if that was Remus, I had just made a fool of myself and brought more attention to us.

"What the hell was that!?" Lily yelled. I jumped, her voice startling me from my thoughts. "You realise if that was Remus, and not a Death Eater, he is gonna be looking for you now! What were you thinking!"

"I - I don't know ok? I panicked! He said Harry was alive, Lil, and he's not! Remus wouldn't lie about that. so Why else would someone say that? I told you this was a bad idea!"

"You're being too paranoid, James. How would they found us? they would have had to have been looking, and if everyone thinks we are dead why would they be?" She had a point. You can't track someones magic signature without locking on to it first in person, so there was no way they knew we were there. But if Remus wasn't a Death Eater then….

Remus' face popped up in my mind. The look of udder confusion on his face when I mentioned Harry's grave. The way he arched an eyebrow in a very Remus fashion when he spoke, almost questioning my mental state. Maybe I was wrong.

"Lily, If it was Remus-" Lily rolled her eyes "- then...Harry is alive Lily. That means the Minister lied to us." My mind was racing. How could this have happened? When Lily and I had woken up in the ministry after Voldemort had attacked he had told us that Harry was dead. He told us that spell had hit Harry, killing our son, and bounced back on Voldemort, killing him as well. We were told leaving was best as his followers would surely want revenge….Oh My God…..

"Oh My God Lily!" I yelled, jumping to my feat. all the sudden it all made since. No one had ever like working with Augustus Brogen before he was made Minister and after no one had dared say anything against him in fear of their jobs. He had always been a shady person, could it have been possible that this was revenge on Harry? taking his parents away? At the time I was in so much shock that I was agreeing to anything they asked of me. At the time it seemed like a good plan to move here. But what if the person we thought was protecting us was the one would wanted us gone?

"What?" Lily's voice brought me out of my thoughts

"Augustus Brogen" I said, Lily frowned her brow. "Lily, what if he wanted us gone? what if that was his plan all along? To leave Harry without parents, what if it was revenge?"

"Now you're being paranoid again James!" Lily replied "That means the minister was a death eater! Surely someone would have known!"

"Just think about it for a second, Lily!" I said. I started pacing the floor of our living room walking back and forth from the couch where Lily had sat down to the wall in front of her. My mind was reeling. "They wouldn't let us see his body or stay for his funeral and no wonder, there wasn't one!"

"But why leave him without us? wouldn't that make the order want to keep him even more safe? What good would it do?"

"I don't know!" I replied. I flopped down on the couch and laid my head in my hands. For so many years I had dreamed of having my son back. I had dreamed of taking him flying for the first time. Of him getting his Hogwarts letter and putting him on the train for the first time. I had imagined him writing home about his first crush or to ask for help on a paper. Every time Brandon or Beth did something new I had thought about how Harry would have done if he was here. And now….

Now there was a chance my son was alive. There was a chance that he was out there now thinking about us like we were him. and there was a chance that someone had taken us from him.

I looked up at Lily. Her face showing every emotion I felt. Fear, sadness, and hope. Her green eyes filled with tears as she glanced behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see the picture of Lily, Harry and I on his first birthday. His cake covered face smiling as we both kissed one cheek. One of the few pictures we had left of him before his death. If He was alive, we had missed 14 birthdays. 14 years of memories like this one that we had missed out on.

"I have to know, James" Lily spoke up finally. I turned back to look at her. Her eyes never leaving Harry's cake covered face "I have to know if he is out there. If he is alive, then I need him" She looked up as me as she said the last part. "I need my son, James."

I nodded my head. I had to know for sure if Harry was alive. 14 years was far too long.

After Lily and I calmed down, well as much as we could, I called the kids to let them know we would be in England a little longer than we thought and Alex's mom agreed that they could stay as long as we needed them too. We packed a few more things that we would need while we were there and headed back out. This time Lily picked up a rock and made a portkey to take us back to England.

This time we landed in the woods, which Lily informed me that was a near a town not to far from London. We decided that we would try to find Sirius and see if Harry was with him.

When we had last seen Sirius he had been living in a flat in London. the chance that he was still there was slim, even more so if Harry was with him, but it was our only lead.

It was like stepping back in time as we walked up to his door. Nothing had changed, even the smell that the hall had about it. I stood staring at the door for some time. What would Sirius say? would he even believe us? Finally I knocked, I heard someone on the other side yelling at someone then running to the door. The bolt clicked and the person opened the door…..

But it wasn't Sirius. a man in his 50s opened the door, just enough that he could poke his head out the door and see us.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"Sorry, We were look for Sirius Black, but-" Lily started. The man frowned his brow.

"Sirius Black? Isn't that the bloke that broke out of prison 2 years ago? Why would you think he was here?" The man cut her off. "We're not hindin' no mad man here"

"Mad man?" I said "No, He use to live here, what do you mean mad-"

"Sirius Black? In out flat? Bloody Hell, May! This man said Sirius Black lived here! in our flat! Can you believe it?" He cut us off again. Looking behind him to yell into the flat.

"Sir, please, we have been away from England for 14 years, what do you mean 'Mad Man'?" LIly said. The man looked at us and frowned.

"You don't know? Looking for the man and you don't even know? killed 13 people he did, blew up a whole street! They have been lookin' for him for 2 years now!" The man replied. "If I was you I wouldn't be lookin' him" I opened my mouth to talk and the man closed the door. I looked over at Lily with wide eyes. What had happened while we were gone?

A/N: I know, its short! I'm sorry but it was just the right place to stop! but at least its up! please R&R!


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